Sync-mate... Anyone?

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Following on from the thread about where to store data, and a comment from @peterdanckwerts I’m now curious about Sync-mate. Anyone using it?

At present, I’m syncing data across a few machines using Dropbox and OneDrive. Seems to be working OK, but both the apps are resource hogs and the OneDrive app is painfully slow. I realise this is as likely to be issues at the OneDrive end, not so much issues with the app on my local machine.

If my understanding is correct I can use Sync-mate to do the syncing with both Dropbox and OneDrive, so hopefully reducing the resource load by 50%. I can also use it to connect to other cloud services.

I thought you could also use it to effectively set up your own service, by connecting to your own server, but I can’t seem to see anything about that in the demo or on the Sync-mate website.

Is anyone able to offer some help on that one?

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It was my understanding that you could use it on your own service but, like you, I can’t actually see any information on that on the website. Sorry if I’ve wasted your time.

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Not at all. I’m pretty sure you used to be able to, I think I used it once for that purpose, years ago mind.

I’ve just been reading the reviews, and even taking into account that people like to complain not compliment, it’s not much liked out there! Too many reports of it messing up systems even by just installing it, which I’ve gotten away with, but it’s getting removed as I type!

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Not sure if it will meet all your needs but I use Syncovery. My needs are probably less than yours but the app seems to offer quite a comprehensive range of backup and synchronisation options. Have used it for years with no problems and support has always been first class.

https://www.syncovery.com

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That’s actually a bloody nice app. I love the reviews too: Horrible interface but great app!

I’ve got the trail version and set it up to sync one folder on my OneDrive service, all working well when I tell it to sync, but can’t work out how to have it auto-sync, a la OneDrive/Dropbox; that is, constantly monitor the cloude service and sync any new files on the fly.

Do you know if it can do that? The site docs are not the best!

EDIT: I’ve worked out how to ste the intervals with which Syncovery checks the folder, presently set to 5mins, and it’s all working brilliantly. Be nice if it can be set to work in real-time though. There is a “real-time” option, but it doesn’t seem to do anything.

One thing I will add, that i like very much, is the ability to set “deleted” folders. So, any file deleted isn’t deleted completely but moved to the deleted folder. I suspect this could get annoying pretty quickly if you forget about it, and it fills up fast, but so long as you remember to regularly check and empty it, it could be a great life-saver.

So far though, I have to say, that even though it’s pretty clunky and not pretty, it’s a really good option, with loads of real control, and it doesn’t try to think for you, and keep asking you annoying questions.

Thanks for the heads up.

EDIT EDIT: Real-time doesn’t work if syncing over the net, so it won’t work if using for Dropbox, Onedrive etc. But you can set it up to sync as often as every minute.

On the resources front… Dropbox uses about 1gb of memory when it’s syncing, about 700mg when monitoring (it appears less, but there are lots of DB processes running, not just the one). OneDrive uses about 20% more. Syncovery seems to max at about 50mb!

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Glad it works for you. I’ve never tried auto-sync or real time as I only use it for basic backups. There has always seemed to be a lot more to it than I actually needed.

The interface is very basic but under the hood it does the job. One thing to note is that it doesn’t prompt you when an update is available and I’ve found that minor updates arrive fairly frequently. Because I use it occasionally rather than continuously I’ve adopted the practice of checking for updates each time.

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